Da Ciphering Da Vinci

The conversation

With this brief introduction to the truth behind the claims made by The Da Vinci Code let us return to Elizabeth's conversation with Lucy.

'Hey, you're a Christian aren't you? What do you think of all this?' asked Lucy.

'I thought it was a pretty good piece of fiction I suppose.' she said.

'Sure, but what about the claims it makes. You have to admit the evidence is pretty compelling. All those clues in DaVinci's paintings, church architecture and those ancient documents. The fact page says they're all accurate.'

'It's not nearly as accurate as you might think.' said Elizabeth 'Besides, don't you think the claims are a little far-fetched?'

'How so?'

'Think about it. Doesn't it sound improbable that Constantine would be able to fuse two warring religions together. I mean, what sort of a religion is going to be content with a compromise. Can you imagine Muslims and Christians resolving their differences with a compromise?! Not to mention the fact that what is described isn't a compromise at all.'

'What do you mean?'

Elizabeth took the book and flipped to Chapter Fifty-Five, scanned the page, pointed to a section and returned the book to her friend. 'Here,' she said, 'Look at this.'

Lucy read the section. 'Yeah? So what?'

'If Christianity and paganism were fused into a hybrid faith how can it also be true that there is nothing original about Christianity? If it were truly a compromise you'd expect something to be original to Christianity.'

'I hadn't thought of it that way.' Lucy said. 'But what about the other claims? What about the Bible? Did Constantine write a new one?